


2,797

by verdent



Category: Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Sort Of, if those exist, skating rink au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 19:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15103190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdent/pseuds/verdent
Summary: A couple small-town kids hit it off opening night of a local skating rink. Five years later they’re still in love. (Part of The Buzzfeed Challenge: Round Four)





	1. Cazadero

Andrew hadn’t been listening to the radio in over an hour, lost to the thrill of the “Now Leaving Cazadero” sign he had long-since passed, wind flooding his car through the rolled down windows as he sped down an endless empty road towards another small town with little in it to do. He turned nineteen in three days, started college in three months, and the escapist in his heart was more impatient than ever for something other than the seven-mile stretch of land he called home. The speakers of the ’98 sedan whined as he cranked the music louder, assuming the California landscape wouldn’t mind the noise. His car had seen far better days; although, none of them had been in his care.

The engine sputtered lifelessly as he pulled into the almost empty parking lot and turned over the key, admiring the audacity of the recently installed neon sign at the head of the building before him through his windshield. The car door opened with a raspy wail of a noise, which was nominally better than the usual kick he had to put into it, and if the heat had not pounced through the window at the sudden stillness of the vehicle it did when his feet hit the asphalt. Andrew moved his sunglasses down onto his face, careful not to put too much weight on the door, as the quickly setting sun bombarded and blinded him. 

Building in full view, Andrew grimaced playfully as he strode to the front of his car and leaned back on the hood to take it all in. Long sheets of metal with large ominous bolts protruding every few feet, it was an old hangar of sorts, closed in and re-purposed with striped clashing coats of cyan and purple paint brought together by the flashing neon signage of the same colors above the door: “Anchor Bay Skates”.

Andrew’s smile widened into a grin as a figure emerged from the rink’s doors, owner of the only other, equally dingy, car on the lot. Reddish-brown hair rested a curly mop on Adam’s head, his average broad-shouldered build awkwardly framed by an over-sized bowling shirt in the same color scheme as the building behind him, with the cursive logo of the skating rink printed on the breast pocket. His eyes lit up underneath a pair of outdated glasses as he saw Andrew, the smile adorning his face drawing attention to the patchy beard he had been attempting to fill in since his freshmen year of high school. 

“You didn’t warn me this place was gonna give me nightmares!” Andrew called out across the way despite the fact Adam could easily hear him as he approached.

“Hey, keep it down! Dad’ll kill me if you’re out here scaring off potential customers. Besides, if you wanted nightmare fuel I should’ve called you down here a week ago when the crew was finishing after dark. This place under construction lights in the early morning? Freaky shit.” Adam joined Andrew at the hood of the car, leaning back and pushing his glasses up on his face as he spoke. Andrew’s nose scrunched up as he let out a half-chuckle.

“I’ll take your word for it. Think this place will get any business? Didn’t take Anchor Bay as the kind of place itching for a roller rink.” Peering over his shoulder at the empty lot, Andrew barely envision a couple more vehicles on the premises much less a full house.

“Eh, dad’s confident. Says we should at least get a crowd from Stewart's Point, maybe further since school’s that way just got out, can always bank on a few small-town kids looking for something to do right?” The two exchanged a knowing look, and the corner of Andrew’s mouth lifted upwards with the heap of memories that involved getting Adam in trouble on the weekends. “Personally, I think he’s full of it, but I’ve got to pay for culinary school somehow, and you-” He punched Andrew in the arm, nowhere near enough to hurt him but enough to get him riled up. “-have a discount to earn.“

“Oh, I get a discount now? Friend of the owner? Mr. Bianchi finally come around to my charm, get over the Egging of ‘07?” Andrew wormed his way annoyingly closer to Adam, who drew up, practically retreating onto the hood of the old sedan before pushing Andrew off with a chuckle.

“Not a chance in Hell, Ilnyckyj. You’ll have to visit my dad on his deathbed if you’re still looking for forgiveness there.” Brushing away any dirt he may have collected off the hood of the car, Adam continued. “Still, tonight you skate free if you help me finish setting up.” Considering the proposition didn’t take long from Andrew’s perspective, as he hadn’t expected to pay in the first place.

“That’s a damn good discount. Lead the way on into this freakshow.” Andrew spoke, gesturing vaguely to the vibrant building before them. Half-way to the front door, Andrew stopped dead in his tracks, turning on his heel to hustle back. “Hold up, I left my jacket in the car!”

“Dude, again with the jacket? It’s 98 degrees you’re going to die in that thing!” Adam called out as he went.

“Adam, if it’s 98 degrees in this roller rink hell I’ll have you know I will gladly go out on wheels, wearing this jacket.”

“It’s your funeral. Just try not to kick it on opening night.”

Andrew figured he’d be fine and flipped Adam off from the end of the lot, pulling the black bomber jacket with gold embroidery from it’s prized place over his passenger’s seat and locking the doors before moving again the catch up with Adam. Shrugging the jacket onto his shoulders while Adam opened the door, a smirk naturally found Andrew’s features as he maneuvered past him into the building and out of the rapidly darkening peach sunset. “Not to dismiss the excitement, dude, but I seriously doubt anything heart-stopping’s gonna happen opening night of a skating rink.”

“You never know.” Adam’s voice followed behind as a lighthearted forewarning while Andrew entered the dark corridor in front of the ticket booth.

He’d never been more right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are welcomed and encouraged < 3


	2. It's What They Called Me In High School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternatively titled: gay panic

The bass echoed in Steven’s ear, and how he had managed to sleep most of the ride to Anchor Bay with music so blaringly loud was the biggest mystery of them all. Lettering illuminated by the passing streetlights caused him a moment of panic before he remembered his friends had yet to clean Jen’s car since graduation, the group’s tags plastered in almost fresh car paint from the celebration not four days ago; “Stewarts Point Grad” and “Class of ‘09” among a few friendly hazes and crossed out obscenities courtesy of Curly were the most prominent. Evening light aside, there was no mistaking the small rainbow flag that hung from Jen’s rearview mirror swinging wildly as Curly danced up a storm from the passenger’s seat. Steven loved his friends, but he dreaded nights like these where he would no doubt end up awkward and alone in an open public setting. Usually, Jen would find him forty-five minutes before the group gathered to head home and retell her conversations with the cute girls she met to, and when they got back in the car Curly always had some crazy story to spin about making out in a bathroom or giving life advice to any drunk person in the vicinity. Sometimes, when Claudia was around, they’d stick together and share a few words. Beyond that, Steven found himself an outlier. Introvert was hardly what his friends would call him, but they knew him most often in the comfort of themselves where he wasn’t afraid to be loud. More than anything he wished tonight could be one of those nights, the four of them around a bonfire talking up a storm. Instead, they had picked up a flyer Steven still clutched in his hands: “Anchor Bay Skates, Opening Extravaganza! 7PM-1AM” Any additional information, address, phone number, event specials had been torn off in the journey from Curly’s bag to Steven’s hands, but he trusted his friends enough not to lead him into a shady drug barn.

“Stevie! Are you finally awake back there?” Curly turned around as far as he could while he spoke, extreme emphasis on finally like Steven had been asleep for hundreds of years in his presence.

“For now, anyone gonna be disappointed if I stay in the car while you guys party?” He was half-joking, but the nervous energy behind his words didn’t make that apparent.

“Steven, babe, try to have a good time tonight, ok? I can hear you overthinking back there.” Sighing somewhat as he spoke, Curly turned back to the front and looked at Steven in the rear-view mirror.

In Steven’s head he was thinking the perfect amount, that he was socially tired and didn’t want to make a fool of himself; he hated skating, but he’d give a go, bust his ass, then find a booth to sit at for the rest of the night. He’d walked through it all in his sleep, seen the future of the night the minute he drifted off and now resigned himself to a soft “Okay.” In response to Curly’s concerns, diverting his gaze from the mirror where Curly stared with a vengeance and back out the window. A hand shook his knee, Claudia throwing his playfully to the side from his left, clearly unsatisfied with that answer.

“Steven-“ She took a warning tone and a look of raised eyebrows that said she wasn’t going to stop messing with him til she got what she was looking for. “Are you gonna have a good time tonight?” Steven forced his smile down to an odd pursed-lip expression as he looked at her, and gently she shook him by the arm.

“Yes! Okay, fine. I will try to have a good time tonight.” His face broke into a smile, but the worry behind his eyes stood strong as he brushed her off and emphasized the try in his response.

“That is not what I asked.” She returned with a vengeance as Jen pulled turned off onto a narrow road, finding the ticklish spot on Steven’s side. Any worried look on his face vanished as he laughed and fought her off in the backseat.

“Yes! Okay, yes. I will have a good time tonight.” This time with conviction and a genuine smile, she retreated, sated, back to her side of the vehicle.

“With that attitude, hell yeah you will.” Her smile was vivid as she exchanged a glance with Curly, who in return let out an excited scream and somehow managed to turn the music up even louder.

When Steven turned to the window again, he had a bit more hope about the rink. Maybe his friends were right. Maybe he would have a good time.

The first part of the prophecy came true. In a predictable fashion his comfort zone of friends split with their interests, Claudia and Curly taking to the skating floor almost immediately with an array of advanced movements, showing up just about anyone else in the vicinity. Steven considered heading to the arcade but was intimidated by the heated argument that seemed to be taking place over a game of Magic. The area designated for food and drink was a no-go because Jen had already taking up with a girl, and Steven didn’t want to interrupt. After a solid ten minutes of standing alone by the door, squinting through the dimly lit interior, he decided to take his chances on skates. Even if he sucked, he’d at least be better than some of the kids out on the floor (he hoped anyway).

Steven realized his mistake the moment he tried to stand, that movement alone being near too complex for him once the heavy skates encased his feet. He pushed through, steadying himself on the half-wall nearby and slowly but steadily maneuvering onto the wooden floor of the rink. Somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes passed of tediously holding onto the wall as he made his first lap around, powered only by the want to show the two kids that laughed at him on the way that he knew what he was doing when he, in fact, had no idea how to move more than a couple inches at a time on skates. The rink was clustered by couples skating with barely any room between them, feisty groups of children speeding and falling everywhere he looked, people finding a contemporary rhythm to somehow dance to, and the occasional loner such as himself though no one looked as awkward as he must have. His face burned with embarrassment under the multi-colored lights illuminating the otherwise dim room, and he pushed away from the wall with a nervous adrenaline as he found a sort of stride.

Andrew turned his head for one moment, distracted by a couple that crossed through the center of rink in an impressive spin and melded easily back into the chorus of skater. He turned forward on impact as his shoulder slammed into the back of a guy trying to steady himself before he arrived so gracefully into the scene. Andrew recovered calmly, breaking with the front of his foot to steady the lanky individual while they each apologized to the other simultaneously. One of the more naturally colored lights brightened a moment over the stranger’s face, and Andrew forgot how to speak, blinking as he felt the heat rise to his cheeks.

Steven thought he had been hit by a truck but instead found his assailant to be a guy with stockier build and impressive arms as he locked his hand in a vice grip around the other man’s bicep to keep from tumbling to the floor. His gaze found the man’s face just as the white light found them overhead, and he could have sworn he felt his heart skip a beat, suddenly flustered. 

“Sorry, again, about that. Do you, would you, do you want some help?” Andrew broke the silence as best he could, trying to be completely unaware of the guy’s hands on his arm and somehow only being able to focus on that sensation, feeling his face heat up as he posed the question. Smooth. He thought, wanting to hit himself as he fumbled over his words and felt his face grow hotter. The other’s face visibly lit up at the offering into the brightest smile Andrew had ever had the honor of witnessing, and he honestly didn’t know if he was going to survive any of this.

“I’d love that. I’m Steven by the way! If you can’t tell, skating’s not really my thing.” In a moment, everything was looking up as Steven found himself again, letting go of Andrew’s arm to put his hand out in an eager shake, trying to not be so obvious in eyeing the other up.

“Andrew, and we’ll see about that.” He grasped Steven’s hand and extended a playful smirk as he tightened his grip just-so. “Hold on.” Steven made a surprised noise as Andrew turned quickly on his skates, reaching out for purchase with his other hand and finding it on Andrew’s shoulder as the two sped forward, hands held and Steven in an awkward position at his back. Although, his smile never wavered. His eyes scanned down Andrew’s back as he investigated the hand still on his shoulder, curiously reading the words on the back of the bomber and blinking emptily at the embroidery of a bee beneath the letting.

“Hot honey?” The question left him before he could stop it.

“What?” Andrew turned his ear, not quite having heard him under the combination of music and chatter.

“Your jacket, it says Hot honey. What does that mean?” Steven leaned forward a little, careful not to lose his balance, and raised his voice, finally releasing Andrew’s shoulder (but still keeping their hands tightly closed together). Andrew chuckled, face scrunching at the inquiry.

“It’s what they called me in high school.” 

“I see why.” Steven was devastated the minute he mumbled the words that were only meant to be uttered in his head, feeling his face grow insanely hot before Andrew could even register the compliment and plotting his daring escape from the rink.

“What was that?” Andrew asked innocently.

“Nothing.” Steven managed to wheeze out as normally as possible, considering it a miracle that Andrew didn’t hear him. They looked at each other, Steven now beside instead of behind Andrew, neither trying to untangle their hands and no one mentioning it anyway; Steven broke the silence with a genuine laugh, something about the absurdity, the wonder of the last ten minutes of his life. Andrew didn’t ask. Instead, the thought briefly crossed his mind.

_I could get used to that._

“Hey,” Andrew guided them over to the half-wall partition, and despite the abrupt stop, Steven certainly didn’t mind having felt dizzy the last few laps (from the rink or Andrew, it was hard to tell). “What would you say about getting out of here?” His eye’s darted around the rink before landing on Steven once more.

“And going where?” Steven quizzed.

“There’s a clearing a little way’s behind the building, got a great view of the shore, but I-I totally get it if-” Doubts crept up in Andrew’s mind, realizing how creepy he must sound, backpedaling to try and keep Steven comfortable with being around him and not wanting to come on too strong or a myriad of other things.

“No, hey, I’d love to.” Steven didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but he couldn’t put it in his head that Andrew wanted to hurt him, especially not after how he smiled when he heard Steven’s response.

“Meet me out front in ten?” Andrew would’ve hated how eager he sounded if he had any reason to care right then.

“Sounds like a plan.” Steven felt stupid and bubbly and nervous, but all he could think about was telling Jen as Andrew smiled and skated off to an exit from the floor. Steven spotted Jen where she had been earlier, this time with Curly and a few girls he had never seen before. As Steven found his own exit he pulled out his phone and rather than interrupting her conversation face-to-face and being forced to interact with her mom-like inclination to skepticism he shot her a message about the whole ordeal. He fumbled around unlacing his skates at the nearest bench, taking him far longer than he would have hoped to take them off and turn them in.

Outside, nerves and checking his watch every few minutes consumed Andrew, and the moment ten minutes had passed he felt his heart sink low in his chest while he replayed the conversation in his head, reaching at straws in his memory for reasons Steven would stand him up and trying to come to terms with the fact that he should probably just head home. Then, swallowing heavy, Andrew’s eyes lit up as the dark-haired guy pushed the door to the rink open, the outdated disco music following muffled behind him as he stepped out into the most natural light Andrew had seen him in yet. Had he been much older Andrew thought it would have been enough to make his heart stop.

“Well then, follow me.” Without thinking Andrew grabbed Steven’s hand and internally screamed as he received no protest to the action. Steven’s head was buzzing wildly with questions he didn’t allow himself to ask just yet: _Was this a date now? Is he going to kiss me? Something else? Would I be okay with that?_ He tried to push the anxiety out of his mind as the adventurous part of him was sated. The area Andrew described was closer than he had thought it would be, at most ten minutes from the back exit of the rink and surrounded partially by woods, but not totally free from the bright light of the sign behind them. 

It was free enough, though. Just enough light to see each other and the bluffs of Anchor Bay and just little enough to see the stars above them. Steven could see immediately what Andrew had meant and appreciated the familiar smile Andrew gave the area.

“How’d you know about this place?” Steven asked, admiring Andrew’s expression as looked out on the water.

“My friend’s dad owns the building, had been wanting to do something with it for years, so I spent a bit of time out here keeping him company while he worked.” The softness of his tone could have knocked Steven over, excited by the prospect of no longer having to yell. Andrew took a seat on a large rock nearby, turning his back to the sea and looking up at the sky as he patted the space next to him. Steven graciously took it, the back of his mind now vividly aware of every time they brushed up against one another.

“Do you like it?” Andrew asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray the various strains of anxiety filling his head in regards to Steven.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” They weren’t looking at the scenery anymore, and Andrew felt like he could breathe again. Steven, too, didn’t have anything to worry about.

They talked for hours, time lost to an array of questions ranging from deep and personal to standard sleepover inquiries, among a series of age-related getting to know each other topics dealing with college and aspirations. Steven was over the moon as the conversation kept on rolling, no longer fearful of things he wasn’t ready for, but at the end of the night didn’t think he would have minded. A worried message from Jen brought him back to reality, and he reviewed the messages he’d missed.

“Shit! I’ve gotta go. My friends are about to leave me,” He sprung up from his spot, back groaning from the awkward seating arrangement and was about to hustle to the rink before he thought of something else. “Do you have a pen?” Andrew felt around his pocket and curiously handed it to him, startled as Steven grabbed his hand and wrote. He pushed the pen back into Andrew’s palm and smiled brightly, waving in a frantic fashion as he booked it back the direction they came. Andrew smiled down at the scribbled writing and watched him go.

He drove home with Steven Lim’s phone number on his wrist.

Steven stared out the window the whole drive back to Stewart’s Point, but this time his smile was genuine, promise to Claudia kept, in full.

His phone didn’t buzz for two days; all the while he couldn’t stop thinking any new notification would be Andrew with something good to say. When it finally was it wasn’t much, but it was enough for Steven.

 **A:** ‘Hey’ – A.I.  
**S:** ‘Hey! You going to tell me what the I stands for?’  
**A:** ‘Ilnyckyj’  
**S:** ‘Excuse you’  
**A:** ‘Very funny’ – A  
**S:** ‘Hey’  
**A:** ‘Did we not just go over this one?’  
**S:** ‘Different context. Hey’  
**A:** ‘Hey?’  
**S:** ‘Do you want to go out sometime?’  


Steven’s fingers shook as he typed out the question and hit send. Years of his life seemed to go by within the next few minutes, a wild display of being glued to his phone and being entirely unable to look until he heard the buzz.

 **A:** ‘Love to, are you free Thursday?’  


Andrew gave himself a small slap to the face to make sure he wasn’t dreaming before giddily sending his response.

 **S:** ‘Yeah, see you at 6?’  
**A:** ‘Sounds like a date’

Oh, it was definitely a date.

Steven felt himself close to squealing, unable to conjure any emotion other than the all-consuming feeling that everything was right. Andrew wasn’t sure he was even existing from where he sat in his car.

Neither wanted the feeling to go away.

(It wouldn’t.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are welcomed and encouraged < 3


	3. Away

For four and a half years, Andrew convinced himself he hadn’t found love from every date beyond their first, throughout college, each time his heart did a summersault in his chest because Steven’s face broke into that wide-open smile, when Steven kissed his forehead or tapped his nose when his face scrunched up in a laugh. Every day he pushed past some new doubt that this beautiful thing in his life had no right to stay. He was too young. That night at the skating rink was fun, not substantial. He hadn’t found someone he could truly miss.

Yet, without fail, when Steven walked into a room he was overwhelmingly all Andrew could focus on, so he choked down any doubt he’d ever had and let himself enjoy this bright wonderful thing he’d haphazardly run into, holding onto it tighter than ever before, never wanting it to dull for a moment.

His bed was colder when Steven moved to New York.

They were still together, technically, but they were 2,797 miles apart.

Andrew remembered because he’d look it up again every time he forgot.

They spoke nearly every morning, wished each other good night, and occasionally ate lunch together through a screen. Andrew quickly got comfortable saying an infinite list of sappy things to his phone, but he missed Steven being there. He missed having Steven’s arms around him when he woke up, missed running his fingers through Steven’s hair, missed being able to call for him around the apartment and turn around to find him there, smiling. 

How could he have ever thought Steven was someone he wouldn’t miss?

Andrew figured he must have been a new kind of idiot because for six grim months he wholeheartedly missed Steven Lim.

Then, Steven called to tell him he had purchased tickets for the end of May—the week of Andrew’s birthday. The excitement in Steven’s voice rang through Andrew’s head as they said a brief goodbye and clicked the orange “Confirm Order” box on the screen in front of him, picking up the phone he had just put down.

“Hey, Adam. You’re still working at the rink til it closes, right? Well, I need a favor.” Andrew’s stomach churned wildly the whole conversation. “You’re sure your dad won’t mind?” He teased.

“Eh, fuck it. This place doesn’t have long anyway, and he’s not going to fire me now.” Andrew could hear Adam shrug as he spoke, and they said goodbye. His hand shook as he put the phone down again.

Andrew picked Steven up on the nineteenth, and Andrew still didn’t know how he survived being in the same room as him when he was allowed to hold his hand or kiss him on the cheek while taking his luggage like a gentleman, how he didn’t perish every time Steven woke up from his nap on the ride into LA and lazily smiled or mumbled how happy he was to be home. Andrew woke him up back at his rather barren apartment, and Steven was on Wellington in an instant.

“Hello! Hi!” He was crouched by the couch where the cat was asleep, trying not to be too abrasive as Wellington investigated him. “It’s me, Steven, your second dad! Dad number two!” Wellington’s curiosity was peaked as Steven’s voice remained about an octave higher than usual, and Andrew outright chuckled from the doorway.

“If we have kids they are not calling you Dad Number Two.” They looked at each other fondly from across the room while Wellington made a time a sniffing Steven’s nose and determining him a friendly entity viable enough to be able to pet him. Steven happily obliged as Andrew carried his things down the hall. 

Knowing he had to go back was torture. Despite the fact that they spoke every day, they were chatty at the reality that they were physically in front of each other, retelling any story they could think of to hear the other speak in person. At the end of every sentence Steven wanted so desperately to ask Andrew to come with him, but he always stopped himself. He couldn’t ask him to pack everything up for him, no matter how scary New York was without him. Steven was happy with his job, happier than he could have ever imagined being, except for when he had to imagine the plane ride home without Andrew holding his hand, so he swallowed the question and begged himself to enjoy the week they had without that desperate ache behind his heart at the thought of leaving him behind.

Andrew posed his own question after dinner.

“How would you feel about a road trip tomorrow? Adam wants to do something early for my birthday, thinks it would be neat to head back to the rink.” Andrew managed to keep his tone steady while his brain screamed at him to give it all away.

“Anchor Bay? It’s definitely a drive but sounds like fun.” Steven responded between bites, sneaking some food to Wellington where he sat on the couch next to Steven, rather taken with him. 

“Perfect! Dress up a little. Adam says he wants us to stand out.” Andrew said, smiling behind his glass. Steven eyed him suspiciously but soon forgot to question him as the cat pawed out for more.

Steven was bleary-eyed and travel weary early the next morning as he threw himself into Andrew’s car (beat-up sedan long-replaced by a newer, more reliable grey one) and kept his complaints to a minimum while he watched the sun rise over his boyfriend on the driver’s side. Anchor Bay was in their sights by six that evening, and the neon sign over the bay’s only skating rink in front of them by seven. (Although the ‘c’ and the ‘o’ had burnt out a couple years ago, and Adam’s dad had never put in the money to get it fixed.) The paint was still an eyesore but now, a chipping eyesore, and above the door hung a hand-written sign.

‘Open for 5 years, closing soon’

“Drew, am I missing something? Is today-” Steven’s eyes were wide with panic looking straight ahead.

“Our five years?” Andrew suggested and smiled as Steven nodded vigorously in his seat. “Well-”

“Oh my goodness, Drew I am so sorry. I thought it was the 26th-I can’t believe-With all this travel I-” Andrew reached across the car to put his finger over Steven’s mouth, effectively hushing him.

“Shhhh, Steven it’s okay. It is the 26th. You did nothing wrong, and I wouldn't be mad even if you did forget.” Steven’s sigh of relief of visual and audible as the words came out of Andrew’s mouth and Andrew’s hand moved from Steven’s lips to cupping his cheek.

“In fact, five years ago today, I walked into that skating rink on opening night and met the most amazing guy on the planet.” Andrew emphasized today as he spoke, and Steven grabbed his wrist where he felt Andrew’s hand on his face, playfully throwing it off and laughing.

“Shut up. Let’s go in before you make me cry.” Steven was sure the only reason he could be crying would be due to how happy he was, beaming at Andrew from the passenger’s side. Still, they got out anyway and opted to hold hands all the way across the parking lot.

Andrew opened the door and was immediately met with Adam behind the ticket booth, looking bored as ever as he combed through a culinary magazine. In five years he had grown into his beard and upgraded to a black button down and suited him far more than a ratty bowling shirt ever could. Andrew stood in line smiling until Adam looked up, breaking out into his own grin from the box.

“Hey man, showtime?” Adam’s eyes flickered to a confused Steven and quickly back to Andrew as he asked. Andrew took a deep breath.

“Yep.” He managed, pushing open the door.

Steven and Adam shared a wave which drew Steven’s mind away from the puzzling exchange, not for long, though, as he heard Adam’s voice crackle from the loudspeaker cutting the music down about twenty clicks with it.

“Alright! Everyone off the floor, only for a moment! Come on, clear the floor.” A group of confused skaters looked around at each other before exiting the skating floor, and Andrew reinforced his grip on Steven’s hand as he led them in that direction.

Steven had no time to process, his mind a mile a minute as they moved in slow motion and three times regular speed all at once, the slick wood of the skating floor hitting his shoes before he could ask Andrew anything, and then all of a sudden time started again.

A crowd of people gasped from a far, some distant cheers as Steven’s eyes focused in front of him.

Andrew was on one knee.

_Andrew was on one knee._

**Andrew. Was. On. One. Knee.**

That’s what it sounded like in his head as Steven’s eyes grew wide and his heart about lept into his throat. Not only was he one one knee, but there was suddenly a ring box in his hand; his mouth was moving. Steven was processing his voice.

“Steven-” Andrew opened the box. There was nothing inside.

Andrew tossed it out of the way, taking both of Steven’s hands which only confused him further. “Can I moved to New York with you?”

Steven was crying. Six months of emotions and protests and disappointments he didn’t know he had been keeping in coming out in a flood as Andrew stood and wrapped his arms tightly around him. With his back bent to bury his head in Andrew’s shoulder he whispered a sniffling ‘Yes’ as many times as he could. The multi-colored lights and music came back up, ruining the atmosphere but not the moment as they broke the hug and just stared. It was all the either knew how to do, drinking the other in in the dimly lit room where they’d met. Steven took Andrew’s hand this time and led him off the skating floor with a resounding round of applause from some of the bystanders in the rink.

They spoke to Adam, and Steven learned of his plans now that he finished culinary school. He’d be going to New York with them as soon as the rink closed down. (Which they had also learned the fate of, after nearly bankrupting multiple times the building had been sold to a furniture company.)

Eventually, of course, they found the rock where they really met, where they had asked question after question to each other, and Steven had given out his number. The wondered vaguely what would have happened if he had forgot, both knowing full well how likely he’d have been to do it.

“I would’ve looked for you.” Andrew said, taking his eyes off the stars and replacing them with Steven.

“That is, without a doubt the second sappiest thing you’ve said tonight.” Steven said through a grin.

“You love it.” Andrew kissed him, something he hadn’t had the courage to do five years ago. Silence overtook them beyond the faint sound of music from the rink and howling on crickets and cicada’s all around.

“I really thought you were going to propose tonight.” Steven succeeded in not sounding disappointed, but he couldn’t help feeling a little so deep down.

“Would you have wanted that?” Andrew asked, genuinely curious from where he sat.

“Would I have- Yes Drew. Maybe not sharing that moment with that many people, but yes. I want to marry you.” Steven thought he was going to cry again.

“Alright, then,” Andrew reached into his jacket pocket and hopped off the rock, producing a simple gold-colored band. “Steven Lim, will you marry me?”

Steven Lim thought he was going to keel over, and yes, he was crying again. Except this time, Andrew was too as they embraced, Steven nodding as hard as he could into Andrew’s shoulder, too choked up to form words. He calmed down enough to have Andrew sit again on the rock, Steven taking his hand and laying his head on his fiance’s shoulder. 

“I love you so much, Drew.”

Andrew strained his neck a little to kiss the top of Steven’s head.

In the dim light outside, the sun setting behind him, he held the ring in his hand rolling it between his fingers as his eyes finally found the inscription on the inside of the band.

_‘Home is where I’m with you.’_ – **A.I.**

They stayed like that a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to thank everyone for reading, @thebuzzfeedchallenge on tumblr for organizing these events, my wonderful prompt partner @shouldbestevdrew for hearing my first wild ramblings about this idea, and the buzzfeed worth it discord for keeping me sane this past week
> 
> feel free to come talk to me on tumblr @mandej! this was a blast
> 
> comments and kudos are welcomed and encouraged < 3


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